Clinton, William Jefferson

(b. August 19, 1946) Forty-second president of the United States (1993–2001).

Born in Arkansas, William Jefferson Clinton was educated at Georgetown University. He then became a Rhodes Scholar and studied at Oxford University in England. After he returned to the United States and graduated from Yale Law School, Clinton lost a race for Congress in 1974. In 1978, however, he was elected governor of Arkansas at the age of thirty-two. He went on to become the forty-second president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001.

A rising star in the party, he won the Democratic nomination for president in 1992. Clinton defeated President George Bush despite accusations that he had dodged the draft to avoid being sent to Vietnam in 1969. When his draft notice was imminent, Clinton had sought a deferment by signing up to join the Arkansas ROTC program. After a few months, when United States policy changed...